Quotes of the day

posted at 8:01 pm on August 17, 2014 by Allahpundit

Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson said in a briefing just before 3 a.m. that police began using smoke bombs early this morning after learning that men were on the roof of Red’s BBQ. Police were going to walk West Florissant Avenue in teams, but that plan changed with the report of men on the roof.

Authorities then heard that there was a shooting victim near Red’s, a police car was shot at, and a man stood in the street with a handgun.

Chuck Canterbury, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, a union that represents more than 325,000 officers nationwide, defended the actions of the Ferguson and St. Louis County police. He said he had spoken with officers there who told him they have been responding to violence from people who have looted, started fires and thrown rocks and bottles at them…

Much of the high-tech gear seen in Ferguson is to protect police, he said.

The military appearance is “more a perception than reality,” he said. “They are two different things. The military is trained to engage and law enforcement is trained to defuse.”

***

We’ve been told for days now that that the reason there was rioting in Ferguson is because protesters were “provoked” by militarized police. I agree with some of my colleagues that cops should look like cops (see Kevin’s excellent piece here), and it is deeply unsettling to see police atop armored vehicles training weapons on protesters. On the other hand, there is no justification to throw projectiles at police, no matter what kind of uniforms they are wearing or what kind of vehicles they have, nor is there any justification for destroying or stealing other people’s property.

Now, we’ve had a real world test of the “provocation” thesis. The highway patrol came in with a much softer and friendlier posture and it seemed to work Thursday night in reducing tensions, but it didn’t last night. Shamefully, the cops evidently stood by while looters destroyed and stole things. We’ve heard an awful lot about the function of police in our society the last few days. Well, how about this as a function? Protect the property of innocent people.

Dayan says police would not let him walk down the street to his business, a cell phone service and supply store, despite letting looters run through the streets and into stores. “As far as I know my business is burning down, I’m getting calls from the alarm left and right, you got to get here, you got to get here,” he says. “They [the alarm company] called the police. The police said, “We cannot come help you because it’s not our job anymore. We got kicked out.” ”

He says police told him they would call him when it was safe to return to his store, but never did. When he did make it back to his store a few hours later on Saturday morning, he found several Ferguson residents standing guard and waiting to help him clean up. He says police came into his store on Saturday to make sure he was OK, but offered no explanation as to why they would not protect his store. “My store or my business, it’s nothing that they worry about,” he says. “It’s the last thing they worry about.”

***

In rural western Maine, the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, which had not reported a murder in more than 20 years, asked for an MRAP. Cpl. George Cayer, wrote in his request that Maine’s western foothills face a “previously unimaginable threat from terrorist activities.”

In Orange County, Florida, masked officers in tactical gear helped state inspectors raid barber shops in 2010 to find people cutting hair without a license. Using a mini battering ram and pry bar at times, police arrested dozens of people. Officials said they found illegal items such as drugs and a weapon.

McSweeney said it’s hard to argue that police shouldn’t use the best equipment available.

The limits of the Parker approach became apparent during Watts, which started over a traffic arrest and escalated into rioting that claimed 34 lives. Parker himself called for support from the California National Guard. Activists found soldiers patrolling the streets of Los Angeles to be a fitting symbol. They had long considered the LAPD an occupying army. Parker had the opposite reaction: He wanted those toys for his officers…

After the department’s SWAT team prevailed in violent confrontations with Black Panthers and SLA guerrillas—and with help from a Hollywood television series named “S.W.A.T.” and generous Justice Department grants—thousands of U.S. police departments began buying the high-powered weapons, body armor, and other SWAT accoutrements.

***

To be clear: I cheered Paul’s comments, I support most of the reforms under consideration, I want lower incarceration rates and fewer people dying when a no-knock raid goes wrong. But there may be trade-offs here: In an era of atomization, distrust and economic stress, our punitive system may be a big part of what’s keeping crime rates as low as they are now, making criminal justice reform more complicated than a simple pro-liberty free lunch.

But the military hardware issue, the BearCats and grenade launchers and what we’ve seen unfold in Ferguson — that does seem easy, uncomplicated, clear. Crime rates rise and fall, but crime-fighting is a constant for police; dealing with terrorism and insurrection, however, decidedly is not. Yet for decades we’ve been equipping our cops as though the Symbionese Liberation Army were about to come out of retirement, as if every burst of opportunistic lawlessness could become another Watts, as though the Qaeda sleeper cells we feared after 9/11 were as pervasive in life as they are on “24” or “Homeland.”

And this is where it’s ended: with a bunch of tomfool police playing soldier, tear-gassing protesters, arresting journalists and turning Ferguson into a watchword for policing at its worst.

Time to take their toys away.

***

To use a recent example, if you or I had gunned down an unarmed man on a street at high noon how long would it be before you were identified as a suspect… which by the way is how the officer in Ferguson should be treated? I’m guessing nanoseconds would be the answer and how long before the police started leaking their suspicions as facts? Again nanoseconds. The officer in Ferguson was only identified after six days and then begrudgingly…

And along the way we are served up the usual pap about how hard a police officer’s life is and how we should respect the police. Here is a newsflash. No one in this nation is drafted to be a policeman. Not only is it a choice, it is a choice that requires the individual to compete for a limited number of positions. If the job is too hard, they should find something else to do that doesn’t involve carrying a gun and brutalizing the citizenry. And respect is a two-way street. You gotta give it to get it.

The different uniforms are meant for different kinds of policing: The traditional blue coat is for the policeman who walks a beat, and the ridiculous stormtrooper suits are for those who roll through in an MRAP.

Which sort of policing would you prefer?

People in places such as Ferguson, Mo., often talk about the police as though they were an occupying force, and there is, in Ferguson and in many other places, a strong racial component. During my time in Philadelphia, the city had a black mayor, a black police commissioner, and a heavily black police force, and the city’s worst crime was concentrated in two black neighborhoods. Police innovations such as sending extra patrols to schools at dismissal time were criticized by community leaders who complained that the police were “targeting” black neighborhoods. Which, of course, they were: That’s where the crime was. The police were of course in an impossible position: On the one hand, they were regarded as unwelcome intruders; on the other, they could not simply abandon those neighborhoods.

And though I recognize that the police have a difficult task, they might also get a little more support from communities such as Ferguson if they were doing their job. Peel again: “Recognize always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.”

That sound like Ferguson, Mo., to you? Or Chicago? Or Detroit? Or Los Angeles?

***

[W]hen the police are dressed like combat troops, it’s not a fashion faux pas, it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of who they are. Forget the armored vehicles with the gun turrets, forget the faceless, helmeted, anonymous Robocops, and just listen to how these “policemen” talk. Look at the video as they’re arresting the New York Times and Huffington Post reporters. Watch the St Louis County deputy ordering everyone to leave, and then adding: “This is not up for discussion.”

Really? You’re a constable. You may be carrying on like the military commander of an occupying army faced with a rabble of revolting natives, but in the end you’re a constable. And the fact that you and your colleagues in that McDonald’s are comfortable speaking to your fellow citizens like this is part of the problem. The most important of the “nine principles of good policing” (formulated by the first two commissioners of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 and thereafter issued to every officer joining the force) is a very simple one: The police are the public and the public are the police. Not in Ferguson. Long before the teargassing begins and the bullets start flying, the way these guys talk is the first indication of how the remorseless militarization has corroded the soul of American policing.

Which brings us back to the death of Michael Brown. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that everything the police say about this incident is correct. In that case, whether or not the fatal shooting of Mr Brown is a crime, it’s certainly a mistake. When an unarmed shoplifter* in T-shirt and shorts with a five-buck cigar box in one hand has to be shot dead, you’re doing it wrong…

A startling number of American readers wrote to say, with remarkable insouciance, that the US could not afford the luxury of First World policing. Large tracts of America had too many illegal immigrants, drug gangs, racial grievances, etc. Maybe. But the problem is that, increasingly, this is the only style of law enforcement America’s police culture teaches – not only for the teeming favelas, but for the leafy suburbs and the rural backwaters and the college-town keg party, too.

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declaring a state of emergency and authorizing the Missouri State Highway Patrol to put in place a curfew within the City of Ferguson in order to protect public safety and security. Tonight, the curfew will begin at midnight and expire at 5a.m.

The Governor announced the actions from Greater St. Mark Family Church, where he was accompanied by local elected officials; the superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Col. Ron Replogle; and Patrol Troop C commander, Capt. Ron Johnson, who the Governor has placed in command of directing security matters in Ferguson.

The following are the Governor’s remarks given today at Greater St. Mark Family Church:
=======================

Good afternoon.

I want to start by thanking all the elected officials, and community and faith leaders here with us, for their work over the past week on behalf of the family of Michael Brown, the people of Ferguson, and the entire St. Louis region.

The tragic shooting death of Michael Brown one week ago today – and the events that followed – left a family grieving the loss of a son, a community wracked by fear and unrest, and an entire world looking for answers and justice.

Over the past several days I’ve heard from the people of Ferguson; I’ve heard their anger about injustice and intimidation.

I’ve heard the unspeakable sadness of a mother who won’t see her son again, and the anguish of parents struggling to teach their kids to trust amid so much strife.

But like all the world, I’ve also seen over the past few days tremendous acts of grace, generosity and courage.

People of all races and creeds joining hands to pray for justice for the family of Michael Brown.

And last night, the courage and resolve of peaceful protesters who stood up against violent instigators.

Volunteers coming out, even in this morning’s steady rain, to help their neighbors pick up the pieces.

As Governor, I’m committed to making sure the forces of peace and justice prevail.

That is why I called on the Department of Justice to conduct an independent investigation of the shooting death of Michael Brown; an investigation that I’m glad to see is being beefed up with additional FBI agents canvassing this area over the next several days.

And that is why, two days ago, I put the Missouri State Highway Patrol in charge of maintaining safety and security in Ferguson.

I want to thank Captain Ron Johnson for his outstanding leadership in helping bring calm to the streets of Ferguson, while maintaining the rights of its citizens to engage in peaceful protest.

As a result of those actions, we’ve begun to see progress.

On Thursday night, peaceful protesters of all ages, races and creeds here in Ferguson, and in cities and towns across the nation, called in one united voice for justice to be served.

And last night, with few exceptions, the folks out on the streets of Ferguson were peaceful demonstrators.

But we also saw a pattern develop last night where, after hours of peaceful protesting, some individuals took to the streets with the intent of committing crimes and endangering citizens.

And that is unacceptable.

Each step of the way this week, I’ve been in touch with local leaders.

And I have just met with them again to discuss the best course forward.

I share their frustration and their conviction that we cannot allow the ill-will of the few to undermine the goodwill of the many, while putting the people and businesses of this community in danger.

If there was an easy way to separate those who hurt from those who help, we would.

But it’s hard, and especially at night we can’t.

So to protect the people and property of Ferguson, today I signed an Executive Order declaring a State of Emergency and implementing a curfew in the impacted area of Ferguson.

Again, this is not to silence the people of Ferguson, but to address those who are drowning out the voice of the people with their actions.

We will not allow a handful of looters to endanger the rest of this community.

We still need more answers about what happened one week ago at Canfield Green.

And I will continue to push for those answers, and demand transparency and accountability and expediency.

But if we are going to achieve justice, we must first have – and maintain – peace.

This is a test; the eyes of the world are watching.

This is a test of whether a community, any community, can break the cycle of fear, distrust, and violence, and replace them with peace, strength, and ultimately justice.

It will not happen in one night, but that is where it will start.

So tonight, let that journey continue.

And in the morning, this community will rise with the sun to renew its quest for justice.

“He [the officer] pulled up ahead of them [Brown]. And then he got a call-in that there was a strong-arm robbery. And, they gave a description. And, he’s looking at them and they got something in their hands and it looks like it could be what, you know those cigars or whatever. So he goes in reverse back to them. Tries to get out of his car. They slam his door shut violently. I think he said Michael did. And, then he opened the car again. He tried to get out. He stands up.

And then Michael just bum-rushes him and shoves him back into his car. Punches him in the face and them Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabbed for the gun. At one point he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. And he shoves it away. And the gun goes off.

Well, then Michael takes off and gets to be about 35 feet away. And, Darren’s first protocol is to pursue. So, he stands up and yells, “Freeze!” Michael and his friend turn around. And Michael taunts him… And then all of a the sudden he just started bumrushing him. He just started coming at him full speed. And, so he just started shooting. And, he just kept coming. And, so he really thinks he was on something.”

Oh, Allahpundit, get off this silly meme of yours. It’s dishonest and more evidence that you are going full prog. And as I have said to you and others, just like Charles Johnson, the left will never like you.

First of all, Brown had just shown that he was borderline insane by risking prison by robbing the store for petty merchandise. (Cigars… that pot stuffed blunts are made with.) Then continued this apparent insanity, when any rational person should been trying to hide himself after the robbery, instead he was in ladeda fashion walking in the middle of the road, sticking out like a huge sore thumb.

Then, after a scuffle with the cop, Brown is running away, being chased. Then Brown realizes that he’s big and slow and is not going to get away, and in his hazy and perhaps drugged insanity thinks maybe his best chance or choice is turn and be the attacker instead. End of story.

Then, after a scuffle with the cop, Brown is running away, being chased. Then Brown realizes that he’s big and slow and is not going to get away, and in his hazy and perhaps drugged insanity thinks maybe his best chance or choice is turn and be the attacker instead. End of story.

anotherJoe on August 17, 2014 at 8:13 PM

Probably a good chance his pants would have fell below his knees and tripped him.

– store videotape was deemed by almost everyone in authority as “too inflammatory” and “irrelevant” to release.
– no one will mention there’s rioting by blacks because the deceased is black. Like how no one mentions suicide bombers are Muslim
– police on the scene allow looting to go on
– Leader of Iran weighs in on what’s going on in Ferguson
– there’s going to be an autopsy on the autopsy on the autopsy
– The rioters are going by the only eyewitness, who was Brown’s robbery accomplice
– This has dominated the national news for a week
– Most of the official spokesmen seemed in way over their head if not outright incompetent
– Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are now catapulted back into prominence after years of relative obscurity

The military appearance is “more a perception than reality,” he said. “They are two different things. The military is trained to engage and law enforcement is trained to defuse.”

And that mindset is exactly bass-ackwards.

It is law enforcement that must engage with civil society, be a part of it and explain its limitations to the people and ensure that the people recognize that upholding the law starts with each of them.

What the police ought to have done was rounded up anyone breaking the law, keep them overnight, find out where they belong and if they aren’t Ferguson residents take them to the edge of town, tell them to go home and don’t come back. And that includes the race hustlers from elsewhere. Bullies will go on bullying until they are stopped.

Sonny Dayan, owner of St. Louis Cordless Communications, tells National Review Online police prevented him from returning to his business while it was being looted and the police did nothing to stop the crime.

Commander William Adama (Battlestar Galactica): There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.

First of all, Brown had just shown that he was borderline insane by risking prison by robbing the store for petty merchandise. (Cigars… that pot stuffed blunts are made with.) Then continued this apparent insanity, when any rational person should been trying to hide himself after the robbery, instead he was in ladeda fashion walking in the middle of the road, sticking out like a huge sore thumb.

Then, after a scuffle with the cop, Brown is running away, being chased. Then Brown realizes that he’s big and slow and is not going to get away, and in his hazy and perhaps drugged insanity thinks maybe his best chance or choice is turn and be the attacker instead. End of story.

anotherJoe on August 17, 2014 at 8:13 PM

Also, after the officer got out of the truck, Brown would have better been able to size him up and he decided he could take him on easily, as Brown outweighed the officer by around 125lbs and 4″ in height.

He may have been further encouraged by perhaps the officer missing his target a couple of times due to his injuries. That may be why some reported that Brown was mocking the officer.

Be sure to check out the video at the Daily News link. It shows a .. mixed race gang of youths, in center city Philadelphia in a area that is generally considered gentrified and safe, assaulting the fourtyish (black) gentlemen. We may not want the police too overly militarized, but WE DO WANT THE POLICE!

The real question we should be asking is not whether cops need MRAPs and drones, they don’t. The real question is why American police on American streets have rules of engagement more liberal when it comes to the use of deadly force than those a soldier in Afghanistan works under? If an Afghan was killed under the same circumstances as Michael Brown, the soldier involved and probably his immediate supervisor would be facing a court martial. If you doubt the degree to which our police are militarized ponder that question.

If Michael Brown had been a white ‘Gentle Giant’ thief, who had been shot by a black or Hispanic or Asian-American or Native-American or even white police officer, there would be no story.
AND, DAT’S DA TROOF!

There would also be no rioting as demonstrated by the lack of same when two of Obama’s sons murdered a rabbi on the way to temple in broad daylight last Saturday.

AND, DAT’S DA TROOF!

And, ENOUGH, with the specious arguments made by Not-So-Sharpton, liveenslavedthendie, Ned Pepper & Co about ‘It was only property!’ Well, that and assault and battery, but whose counting, right?

Let’s run a few ‘It’s only property!’ scenarios to demonstrate how inane such arguments are:

1. A white ‘Gentle Giant’ steals Toure’s laptop. On said laptop was his sole copy – because Carbonite and iDrive are corporations, Toure refuses to add to their profit margins – of his doctoral dissertation…on which he laboured for more than 3 years and it was bestseller quality, man, NYT bestseller quality. I’m a tellin’ ya. P.u.l.i.t.z.e.r. P.r.i.z.e, Babee!

Oh well, it’s just private property./ So, so, sorry, Toure.

2. The nice family that lives down the block from Jesse Jackson barely keeps their heads above water…forget keeping up with the Joneses Jacksons. Dad earns his living as a plumber. One night, he is bone-assed tired. Instead of lugging in all of his tools and knowing that he has a 6 AM appointment, he locks his truck, finds his dinner in the oven where his long-since retired wife has left it warming, eats, kisses his children, and crawls into bed.

Around 3 in the morning, he is awakened by the loud blaring of his car alarm. By the time he gets to the truck, some tweaker has cleaned him out. However will he work? How will he feed his family? What about the mortgage payment?

Oh well, it’s just private property./

Of course, if the family loses everything, Jesse Jackson won’t care, but I will.

3. Melissa Harris-Perry has an awesome sister, Merielle Landis-Sherry. She’s a single mum of two kids and has never been on the dole in her entire life. She has a great little business doing nails, hair, weaves, and extensions. She used to do it out of her car, but she got so successful that she opened a sweeeeeeeeeet shoppe in Ferguson, Missouri, where people come as much for the service as they do for the camaraderie. Of course, business is so brisk and word-of-mouth out-of-this-world that reservations are about as hard to get as they are at a Michelin restaurant. Girl got it going on!

Of course, if Merielle Landis-Sherry loses everything, I, for one, will very much care.

For those that helped themselves to her private property, jail is too good for them. Karma is a bytch and she has their names engraved in her little book of payback and justice will be meted out as it is deserved: good and hard.

According to @AntonioFrench, a ‘hardcore group’ of protesters are congregating at restaurant parking lot in Ferguson, Mo. He is reporting that the group is looking to have a confrontation with police. – Jimmy

You know what I think – take the law abiding residents and business owners and relocate them to another town – wall off Ferguson and let the thugs loot to their hearts content.
gophergirl on August 17, 2014 at 8:33 PM

It’s all about diversity. Don’t be judgmental. It takes every type of person to make this world go round. … NOT!

Here we have a 6′ 4″ 300 pound football player that only 10 minutes before had robbed a convenience with just his bare hands. And the guy seemed to be nuts and very probably manic or on drugs, and this consideration apparently plays no role in the minds of violent rioting looters. This massive nut is what the cop was up against, a cop that apparently has an exemplary record. Sure, it conceivably that the the cop just shot Brown when Brown had his hands up and was on his knees… shot him seven times. Yeah, like the decorated cop wouldn’t even be thinking about his future as a cop and a free man. There’s no indication of such erratic behavior in the cop’s past. Anything is possible, but that is *highly* unlikely. But look at Sharpton and Jackson and Holder and all the rest holding to that crazy theory that the cop went insane, when it was obvious that Brown was already acting insane.

It’s the rioters and the rioters sympathizers attitude, where they don’t give anyone the benefit of the doubt, or consider what that person might have been thinking, or that reasonable people might differ in their views, or that they might be wrong. I mean, there’s NONE of that.

That utter inability for the rioters et al to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, in the cop’s shoes, or the storekeeper’s shoes, it seems pathological to me, selfish beyond words. It just boggles my mind. People in a rage, yelling and screaming at the camera, and that’s something we’re supposed to understand, even sympathize with?

‘There is (a) class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the N3gro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the N3gro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. … There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.’

Why does that simple mfkr always have his black communist outfit on? When I was a po-po he came here 30 plus years ago. Briefly took a break at a female police Sgt’s house…big dem deal she was. Anyways, she was all wet because he took a nap in her bedroom and she was all excited because she thought he was such a hunk of a man. Went on and on. Even Jesse wouldn’t do her though.